The field of the invention relates generally to sheathed cables and more particularly systems and methods for automatically removing a cable jacket from a sheathed cable.
Electrical cables, such as underground cables, are more commonly used to transfer electrical energy from power sources, such as a power grid, a power plant, and/or a generator. Other cables may be used to transfer an electrical signal from one location to another. Such cables often include thick conductive cores surrounded by a network of minor conductors and an insulating material such as rubber. The conductors and internal insulation are then encased by a rigid insulation layer known as a cable jacket that facilitates the prevention of interference caused by direct contact with the cable, and that shields the cable from the environment. The combination of the rigidity of the cable jacket and the materials surrounding the core of the cables may make such cables unwieldy and/or difficult to bend or to reshape.
When such cables need to be cut or spliced, at least a portion of the cable jacket is removed to expose the interior of the cable. Some known cable-stripping methods use a blade configuration (e.g., a circular saw) to cut through the cable jacket. However, cutting through the cable jacket using a blade may increase the risk of damaging the interior of the cable if the blade undesirably cuts too deep. Some known cable jackets, such as those fabricated from rubber, may prematurely wear out blades, thus limiting the useful life of the blade, and increasing the amount of maintenance and potential down time. Some known cable-stripping methods require a removal device that is stationary and/or unwieldy, and as such, use of the device may be limited.
Other known methods of removing a cable jacket from a cable may be labor intensive. Manual cable-stripping may be tedious, time-consuming, and/or cost-inefficient. Moreover, the cable to be stripped may extend through an area that is not easily accessible for a user. Other known cable-stripping methods requiring manual operation may require the user to focus on operating the cable jacket removal device rather than other necessary tasks such as inspecting the cable and/or monitoring the surrounding area for any potential problems during the cable-stripping operation.